


Fear of the Unknown

by RomeoandAntoinette



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Background Jakob/Corrin, Gen, Innuendo, Mild Language, Post-Canon, Post-Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation, Sleepovers, Spooky stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 22:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17670995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomeoandAntoinette/pseuds/RomeoandAntoinette
Summary: [Tumblr Ask Box Fic] Following the harrowing experiences of war, Corrin and her newly united band of sisters decide to have a sleepover to bond and spend quality time together. However, while Camilla is in the middle of telling an eerie story by candlelight, they receive a very-real scary surprise at their bedroom window. [No Pairings][Background Corrin/Jakob]





	Fear of the Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> This was a request from user [and-i-will-love-him-for-life](http://and-i-will-love-him-for-life.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr. Thank you so much for the wonderful suggestion! The full prompt reads, "I need a fic to exist in this world about Corrin, Sakura, Elise, Azura, Camilla, and Hinoka all having a sleepover; painting each other's nails and telling ghost stories lol. I can just see Camilla telling the stories while Sakura and Elise cling to each other, terrified lol. Then, when everyone least expects it, Niles and Odin scare the crap out of the girls."
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Once upon a time…there was a little boy who became lost in the woods after dark. The boy had disobeyed his parents' command to never stay out after dark. Not minding the setting sun as diligently as he’d been taught, the boy became distracted by a white rabbit deep in the woods and forgot to mind his time. As soon as the boy realized he had no hope of finding his way home, for he was without a single match or candle to light the dark paths. Feeling lost and alone, he sat down and cried. Then, under the moonlight, he spotted the same white rabbit from before, it’s white fur glowing under the moonlight. Two pink eyes stared at back him, red-rimmed and dark as pools of fresh blood.”

A squeak of discomfort escaped a trembling Sakura, who was huddled close to Elise for comfort. The two girls gripped at each other’s clothes as if their very lived depended on maintaining the tightest embrace possible with their combined strength.

Meanwhile, Camilla crouched before a single candle in the center of the bedroom, weaving the eerie tale with all the ambiance and skill of a professional storyteller. Her voice dipped and swelled at the perfect points, until the varying pitch had hypnotized her listeners and lured them into the realm of the story.

Of all people to turn the simple request of ‘telling a scary story’ into a piece of elegant performance art, it was of little surprise to anyone that Camilla seized the top spot with ease.

The effect of the woman’s words on each sister was clearly represented in the facial expressions staring back at her, which ranged from ‘mildly confused’ to ‘absolutely terrified.’ While Elise and Sakura squeezed together for protection, Hinoka’s gaze reflected wide-eyed apprehension. Azura was reclined lazily against the back of the bed, her visage attentive as Camilla told the surreal tale. Corrin was the least perturbed of the bunch, sipping rose-colored wine in amusement at the fantastical story.

With each creepily-spoken word, the band of sisters drew closer together from their position across the bedroom until they were snugly packed in a semi-circle around Camilla. There was supposedly safety in numbers, after all. Corrin also scooted closer, not wanting to be left out.

She hadn’t grown up attending sleepovers, and even though she was enjoying herself a lot, her lack of knowledge about proper protocol put her more on-edge that the scary story Camilla was telling everyone.

Outside, sheets of rain beat at the windows and booms of thunder made even the sturdiest steeples of the castle quake as if they were made from gingerbread instead of iron and stone.

 With each bolt of lightning, the cloudy sky shattered like glass.

“The rabbit began to bounce away, and the boy gave chase,” Camilla continued softly, not deterred by the intimidating sounds or flashing lights, “He followed the rabbit deeper and deeper into woods when, suddenly, the boy came across an abandoned mansion in the forest. Even though the boy lived in the village next to the woods, he’d never seen or heard of anyone living so far on the outskirts of the village. He was dreadfully frightened by the old house, but when he saw the rabbit leap inside, he decided to give chase…”

A frustrated groan cut through the dense atmosphere.

“Why would anyone follow a bunny inside an abandoned house?” Elise whimpered in equal parts frustration and terror. “ _Gah!_ It’s so scary, but it makes no sense!”

Sakura said nothing as she continued to cuddle tightly against the blonde girl’s satin nightgown. The pounds of frills crinkled with each nervous sway.

While Elise and Sakura proceeded to cling to each other nervously, Hinoka sat with uncharacteristic tenseness a few inches away. While she didn’t look scared, a fiery protectiveness did flare in her eyes as she listened to the spooky story. It looked as if the woman was preparing for a fight rather than listening to a story at a sleepover.

Azura's posture was still outwardly casual, while somehow still retaining her usual dancer-like elegance as she pulled a plush velvet pillow to her chest. The Vallite dancer was dressed in similar nighttime attire to her sisters, with her flowing hair piled atop her head and synched with a ribbon. It had been Sakura's idea to show her long-lost sibling how to wear her locks more comfortably without fretting so much about tangles, and so far, it appeared to be a big hit with the dancer.

"I agree," Azura muttered, mostly to herself. "Although, I do sympathize. I would probably do the same thing if I saw such an adorable rabbit in the middle of the woods. What about you, Corrin?"

"Me?" the pale-haired woman asked, swirling the wine in her goblet nonchalantly. She weighed the question briefly before shrugging and taking another long drink. Perhaps the wine was dulling her nerves a bit more than she'd anticipated. "I don't know what I'd do if I was actually in the story, but the way Camilla tells it makes it seem like a bad omen is just waiting in the wings. Like, the rabbit may be a spirit, or something equally terrible."

Azura bit her lip lightly at the odd conclusion. "You truly do have an interesting way of thinking."

"Do I?" she asked with a chuckle. 

For Corrin, it was difficult to put herself in the shoes of the tale's young protagonist. Perhaps it was because scary stories didn’t have much of an effect on her, but nonetheless, but she did enjoy the tender sight all her sisters huddled closely together for safety. It made her sit up from her comfortable spot on the bed and drop down to the floor, just so she could be a part of the huddle too.

All the while, Camilla’s face continued to flicker in and out of the darkness thanks to strategic positioning of the flickering flame directly beneath her jaw. Occasionally, her manicured talons danced near the flame to cast shadows upon the bedroom walls. The effect was quite convincing for creating the dark shadows of the forest’s kaleidoscope of twisting tree branches or even the long ears of the mysterious rabbit from the story.

Then, just by glimpsing at the impressive, shadowy display that danced across the bedroom wall, a ludicrous decision suddenly dawned on the young woman.

“...Wait, Camilla, is the rabbit actually a ghost?” Corrin asked. The remark she's made previously was supposed to have been a joke.

While Azura laughed at her cousin's sudden change in tone, Hinoka tossed her a quizzical stare at the proposition.

“Corrin, why would the rabbit be a ghost?” Hinoka asked curiously. “I mean, I’m not disagreeing, but…”

Corrin responded that it was because of the rabbit's pure-white color. “Ghosts always look pale and...well, ghostly, right? That’s how they look in books. Plus, it has red eyes. That sounds pretty supernatural to me.”

“Lots of white rabbits have red eyes though,” Hinoka offered plainly as if the answer was obvious. 

“Albino rabbits are also more common than you would think,” Sakura offered shakily from the safety of Elise’s embrace.

“Woah, really?” Elise asked in astonishment. “Wait, how is that possible? Wouldn’t white fur make them easy for predators to see?”

“Well, they’re only uncommon in the wild, but since rabbits have been bred to be pets, the white color is much more common,” Sakura explained in more detail.

“So, the poor rabbit is someone’s lost pet?” Corrin asked, much more visibly more agitated than before. “How horrible!”

Camilla cleared her throat loudly.

“Ladies?” she cooed sweetly, but the obvious edge to her voice remained present regardless. “May I continue?”

The sound of Camilla’s voice punctured their conversation. They all reared their heads slowly back to Camilla, mumbling apologies for getting distracted and interrupting.

“You’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the story,” Camilla teased, opening one eye to peek at her audience. In response, Corrin tucked both her arms beneath her body and rested her head there snugly while Hinoka also settled back into her seat with a small huff.

After a few moments of pressing silence, Camilla resumed her eerie persona and commenced with the story promptly.

“The boy followed the rabbit inside the creaky old mansion,” she said slowly. “The mansion was suspiciously large, but it looked abandoned. The wallpaper was weathered, and the furniture was falling apart piece by piece. Then, as the boy wandered through the kitchen, he saw dirtied dishes and a tea kettle on the stove. If the house was truly abandoned, why was there a need for food and water? He walked deeper and deeper into the house until he found the rabbit sitting at the edge of a staircase. After climbing the stairs, the saw the rabbit again…this time, sitting in front of a coffin. He wasn’t sure why, but for some reason…he felt like he needed to open it. As if he wanted to climb inside. As if in a trance, he slowly reached out to grab the lid. With a hard push, he lifted the lid over his head and—”

Suddenly, the sound of Camilla’s drawling voice was interrupted by a strident clang at the bedroom’s window. Every head swerved to investigate the source of the unnatural sound.

Thunder rumbled angrily in the sky. Then, seconds later, a bolt of lightning illuminated the window with a garish flash. Standing out against the vibrant backsplash was a large, shadowy mass with long limbs that seemed to unnaturally twist to effortlessly span the rain-streaked window. The torrential deluge aided in concealing the features of the mysterious form in a curtain of dark mist. Sakura and Elise both screamed in terror at the ghostly figure before falling back into each other’s arms and scrambling to the other side of the room. Azura bolted upright, suddenly looking much more alert than before. The featherlight frame lifted from the bed and ran to Elise and Sakura, where she squatted in front of them and extended an arm to push the young girls behind her. 

Meanwhile, Hinoka and Corrin immediately rose from their seated positions and assumed aggressive stances against the ghostly mass. Although they were lacking their usual weapons, they readied themselves to attack and pummel the offender with their fists.

Camilla was the only one to remain seated throughout the calamity. Amidst the literal series of fight-or-flight reactions from everyone else in the room, she appeared only mildly surprised by the sudden interruption.

With the intent to confront the mysterious beast head-on, Corrin flipped the latch an Hinoka assumed an offensive stance.

The two expected to fight some kind of beast or monster similar to the hellspawn they’d confronted during the war. Instead, as the window paned slid open to reveal the true make-up of the shadowy figure, its features looked oddly human.

 _Familiarly_ human.

Niles and Odin, both drenched from the rain, ducked inside and rolled across the bedroom floor when the support from the frame was taken away from them. Odin landed on his back with a dash of his usual flamboyant flair while Niles rolled onto his side with the litheness of a feline, making sure to keep one leg sinfully elevated into the air the entire time.

The room went silent at their appearance.

Finally, it was Niles who broke the silence with a seductively muttered, “Hello, ladies.”

“Woohoo!” Odin cheered, laughing triumphantly at the sea of shocked expressions before him. “I didn’t think it would be that easy to spook you guys!”

“Dammit, _you two_ ,” Hinoka’s voice rumbled deep in her throat as she marched toward them with her fists balled. “I should beat the hell out of both of you!”

Corrin had to strain against the rushing wind to push the windows shut and snap the lock to fend off the howling zephyrs that tried to forcefully re-enter the chamber. Then, she practically leaped across the room to flatten her palms against Hinoka’s chest and push her a safe distance away from the duo.

If the red-haired woman had managed to succeed in crossing the room and reaching them, there was zero doubt who would have come out victorious in the brawl, and it would have been irresponsible to leave poor Leo with two open retainer position to fill on incredibly short notice.

Corrin kept a firm hold on her old sister before turning her head to face the intruders.

“Odin, Niles, what the absolute hell?” Corrin asked, stalling Hinoka long enough to interrogate the two in an authoritative tone that reminded her of her bygone days as a warlord. “You better start explaining yourselves.”

“And do it quickly,” Hinoka added, the fire in her voice still present even as her younger sister restrained her.

It only took another death-glare from Hinoka to convince the two to come clean. The gist of paper-thin the excuse was that the two had been in the middle of playing cards, bored out of their minds, when they decided to heighten the wager of the game. Niles made the bet that Odin was all-talk and that his dark persona would never be able to frighten some of the kingdom’s most hardened warriors. Needless to say, Odin declared the accusation as rubbish and set out to prove Niles wrong immediately.

Since most of the kingdom’s most powerful warriors were all gathered in one bedroom having a sleepover, it was easy to come up with a plan to execute. Like shooting, or scaring, fish in a barrel.

 From there, the rest of the story told itself. Even worse, the fact that Camilla had been telling a scary story was just a bonus.

“Besides, you were all up here bonding and getting so close,” Niles added. “We were so lonely. What were we supposed to do?”

“Um, how about not terrifying us and watching us through the window like creeps!” Elise offered shrilly. “That should be an easy enough starting point for even you weirdos to understand.”

“That was cheap,” Sakura added, her voice toasty with anger. “You’re both cowards, surprising us like that.”

“Truly pathetic,” Azura agreed as she simultaneously moved her hands in soothing circles atop both Elise and Sakura's backs. The young duo was still trembling from the sudden fright. 

“Ouch, your words sting,” Niles said lowly, not sounding the least bit displeased. “In my humble defense, it was Odin’s idea. I was just a poor bystander, swept up in his passionate plan. Besides, you all know me, I never pass up an opportunity for a free ride…no matter how big or small.”

Hinoka made a disgusted sound and Corrin rolled her eyes. The two were digging their own graves more with each word, and none of the sisters were in any mood to stop them.

Then, Camilla finally spoke up.

“Boys.”

The air in the room immediately cooled a few degrees. Like a panther rising from the veil of darkness to examine prey, Camilla stood from her seated position and began to approach Niles and Odin slowly.

The calmness of her expression betrayed the bite in her tone. Corrin and Elise knew that voice all too well, and their bodies mechanically bristled in fear at the command. They knew without even having to face their older sister that she was angry.

The mere sound of the word also instantly made both Odin and Niles freeze like statues. Even Corrin felt a shiver run down her back that wasn’t from brisk, rain-cooled breeze still circling the room.

Before Camilla could fully meet them, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard just outside the bedroom door. Mere moments later, the sound of a turning key signaled the arrival of another guest.

Felicia burst into the chamber brandishing a knife in one hand and a plate in the other. It seemed she’d been in the middle of washing dishes when she’d heard the other girls scream in the chamber, and had stopped her work and raced upstairs to protect them.

“What happened?” she yelled, her voice more commanding and deeper than usual. The woman sounded like the true military commander she was training to become. “What’s going on? Are you all okay?”

When she saw Niles and Odin laying in a damp sprawl on the floor, she huffed in instant understanding.

“Oh,” Felicia sighed in equal parts disappointment and relief. “It’s you two.”

Odin cringed at the obvious edge in her voice. "Et tu, Felicia? I'm starting to take this hostility personally."

“You should take it personally,” Sakura chimed in from afar, which earned an enthusiastic guffaw from Elise.  

“Felicia, please escort these nasty boys out,” Camilla said, shooting them glares that were much sharper than Felicia’s knives. “Immediately. Also, make sure Leo know of their behavior as soon as possible, so he may take whatever disciplinary action he deems appropriate for his retainers. Oh, and tell Jakob too—” a smirk broke her face, “—Just for fun.”

Odin’s face paled at the mention of Jakob’s name. He instantly fell to his knees and crumbled. “I-I repent! Please, spare us!”

Niles seemed infinitely more pleased with the threat.

“Oh, I get to see Jakob worked up in a tizzy?” Niles asked, swaying his hips ever-so-slightly as the name fell from his lips. “Mmm. Lucky me. Hey, Corrin, want to see your doting husband get feisty for a change?”

Corrin drained her goblet of wine in one long sip.

“I’ll let you experience it alone,” she replied with a wink. “No witnesses, after all.”

Odin howled and Niles cooed. Grabbing each one by the back of their collars as if she was seizing the scruff of two cats, Felicia wasted no time yanking the boys out of the bedroom. None of the other girls were jealous as they were led away to their dark fates, completely at the mercy of a prince and a prince consort that were infamous for their cutthroat methodologies and unconditional lack of sympathy. Perhaps Brynhildr would even come out of its half-hearted retirement.

As the door shut and Odin’s raven-like cawing finally vanished, Camilla cleared her throat and turned back to her pack of sisters. The horrifying smirk that had caressed her face had vanished. Instead, her mulberry-colored lips were pulled back into a sincere smile.

“Now then, how about I finish the story?” she proposed. “Or perhaps you would all rather here another tale instead? Oh! I know a lovely anecdote about a wyvern that gobbled up an entire—”

“No, no, no!” Elisa retorted quickly, hand flying upward to cover her ears. She ducked her face into the frilled collar of Azura's nightgown. “I won’t listen! My poor heart can’t take any more terror tonight! Sakura, let’s do something else instead!”

The suggestion was met with enthusiastic agreement from the red-haired princess.

“Elise, do you want me to do your hair?” Sakura asked sheepishly. “I can show you how to pin it up, if you’d like.”

“Oh, that sounds like much more fun!” the blonde girl said thankfully. Then, just like that, the two were immediately off toward the washroom to gather all the pins and baubles they could that would assist in the styling process.

The older sister was hardly offended by the disinterest in hearing another story. While she tried to play off the sudden change in topic with indifference, she looked somewhat relieved by the Sakura’s more playful suggestion. Perhaps it was Corrin’s imagination, but perhaps the unflappable Camilla had exhausted her attention span telling the story and was happy to be relieved of the obligation. Or, perhaps she’d been even more started by the boy’s sudden appearance than she’d previously let on.

“Hinoka, darling, please let me do your nails,” Camilla begged suddenly, her attention fully diverted as she traipsed to Hinoka’s side and took her hands sweetly. The top of her thumb skimmed the defined bones of Hinako’s knuckles, where the skin was dotted with a few scars from bouts on the battlefield. “You have such strong, wonderful hands. Leaving them so unadorned is a crime against humanity.”

Hinoka bushed obviously at the compliments, especially because she knew Camilla was being sincere. The lavender-haired warrior wasn’t one to mince words, after all.

“S-Sure…Hinoka said sheepishly. “That sounds kind of fun, actually.”

Although her tone was demure, she didn’t pull away as Camilla pulled her hands into hers and guided her so to the bed, where they could sit together more comfortably. Camilla then elegantly gestured toward Azura to also join in their activity. "You too, dear."

All the while, Corrin watched her sisters’ bonding with obvious adoration. Before the war, such a feat would have been impossible. In the back of her mind, the warlord was acutely aware of the haunting possibility that, if she'd made even one different choice, that not all of her beloved family members would have made it out of the ordeal alive. While Corrin still had nightmares occasionally about any of her loved ones succumbing to a bloody fate because of what could have been, she found solace in the fact that such terrifying outcomes would be an enduring mystery until the end of time.

Much like the fate of the boy after opening the casket, the true outcome would remain forever unknown, and Corrin was more than okay with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading all the way to the end! <3
> 
> I'll be honest, she was incredibly fun to write. I hope it's also fun to read!  
> (Also, even though this fic only has Corrin/Jakob as a background pairing, in my own game files, I always have Camilla marry Niles and have Odin marry Elise. So, seeing the two sisters lay into their husbands for their terrible prank was a little extra amusing to me, haha!)
> 
> Anyway, I'll see you all again soon with some more fics/requests/updates! Until then, I'm sending you all tons of hugs and kisses.
> 
> Bye for now!


End file.
